Cerebral white matter sex dimorphism in alcoholism: a diffusion tensor imaging study

Abstract

Excessive alcohol consumption is associated with brain aberrations, including abnormalities in frontal and limbic brain regions. In a prior diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) study of neuronal circuitry connecting the frontal lobes and limbic system structures, we demonstrated decreases in white matter fractional anisotropy in abstinent alcoholic men. In the present study, we examined sex differences in alcoholism-related abnormalities of white matter connectivity and their association with alcoholism history. The dMRI scans were acquired from 49 abstinent alcoholic individuals (26 women) and 41 nonalcoholic controls (22 women). Tract-based spatial statistical tools were used to estimate regional FA of white matter tracts and to determine sex differences and their relation to measures of alcoholism history. Sex-related differences in white matter connectivity were observed in association with alcoholism: Compared to nonalcoholic men, alcoholic men had diminished FA in portions of the corpus callosum, the superior longitudinal fasciculi II and III, and the arcuate fasciculus and extreme capsule. In contrast, alcoholic women had higher FA in these regions. Sex differences also were observed for correlations between corpus callosum FA and length of sobriety. Our results suggest that sexual dimorphism in white matter microstructure in abstinent alcoholics may implicate underlying differences in the neurobehavioral liabilities for developing alcohol abuse disorders, or for sequelae following abuse.

Alcohol's Unique Effects on Cognition in Women: A 2020 (Re)view to Envision Future Research and Treatment

“…Potential sex differences in brain structural recovery with abstinence require further investigation. Contradictory results based on relations with length of abstinence 66 , 98 showed stronger positive association between length of sobriety and white matter volumes in women with AUD than in men with AUD within the first year of abstinence. 66 By contrast, positive associations between length of sobriety and white matter volumes were observed in men with AUD but not in women with AUD after 1 year of abstinence, suggesting faster white matter recovery in women.…”

Sex is a defining feature of neuroimaging phenotypes in major brain disorders

“…More recent work revealed weaker connectivity in the executive control network of females (vs. males) with nicotine dependence [McCarthy et al, 2019]. In a study of the sex effects of alcoholism on white matter microstructure, alcoholic males exhibited lower FA in the corpus callosum, SLF, arcuate fasciculus and external capsule compared to healthy controls, whereas alcoholic females exhibited higher FA in these regions compared to their control counterparts [Sawyer et al, 2018]. A recent substructural analysis from the same group showed that a longer duration of alcohol sobriety predicted larger volumes in the hippocampal CA1 for males, but smaller volumes in this region for females [Sawyer et al, 2019].…”

Brain Responsivity to Emotional Faces Differs in Alcoholic Men and Women

“…There exist clear differences in how alcohol affects men and women physiologically and in how they progress from social to problem drinkers 31 . For example, we observed genderdimorphic effects in multiple domains including emotional processing, personality, and drinking motives 5,33 , brain white matter [34][35][36][37] , morphometry of the brain reward system 38 , and brain activity in response to emotional cues 39 .…”